The village of Schengen, Luxembourg, which has less than 5,000 inhabitants and is famous for its wine-making, is back in the headlines. Thirty years ago during a meeting held there at the borders of Germany, France and Luxembourg 26 countries including 22 members of the European Union and four non-EU members agreed to allow the free movement of people among their countries.
In the meantime, Europeans often have cited their free movement among these countries as one of the benefits of the EU generally, although all of its member nations didn’t sign the agreement. But on Jan. 25, European ministers meeting in Amsterdam indicated that the EU may have to increasingly put up national travel restrictions because of the refugee and migrant crisis.
With more than an estimated million refugees and migrants having entered the EU last year and the number continuing to pour into Greece especially, the ministers reportedly have been grasping for solutions. In recent months, Austria, Germany, Sweden, Denmark and Slovenia have required new border checks. Under the current rules, these checks can only be kept in place for a limited time. If the ministers determine that there is a systemic failure at a particular point (in this case Greece), they can extend the checks for up to two years.
During her visit to Atlanta on Jan. 21, Caroline Vicini, the deputy head of the EU delegation in Washington, said that the union would most likely establish a European Border and Coast Guard to ensure a strong and shared management of the external borders.
While in Atlanta, Ms. Vicini was joined by Thomas Wulfing, Germany’s deputy consul general based here, and John Parkerson, Hungary’s honorary consul general, at a luncheon of the Atlanta Council on International Relations.
A wide spectrum of opinions was exposed with Mr. Parkerson expressing prevalent views in Hungary and Mr. Wulfing responding with his views of the situation in Germany.
The impetus for the free movement of people in Europe was symbolized towards the end of the Cold War by the dismantling of the Iron Curtain with the cutting of barbed wire between Austria and Hungary in 1989 enabling thousands of East Germans to flee to West Germany.
Today, Mr. Parkerson indicated, Hungary is unlikely to welcome large numbers of refugees to settle within its borders and again views itself primarily as a transit point.
“Hungary has been homogeneous for the last few centuries,” he told Global Atlanta during an interview following the luncheon discussion. “Its people come from an ethnic blend but now they have a strong language and cultural identity. They feel that the influence of different religions and languages are a threat to their society and their way of life.”
The refugees from Syria, Iraq, Afghanistan and North African countries don’t aim to stay in Hungary, he added, but want to make their way to Germany and points north. “Hungary’s challenge,” he added, “is dealing with the masses at the border.”
Mr. Wulfing indicated that despite the reports that women had been attacked during New Year festivities in Cologne and the presence of opposition in some quarters to refugees settling in Germany, his country had a long history of accepting migrants and integrating them into its multicultural society. He also said that because Germany today is primarily secular the Muslim religion of many migrants would not present a spiritual challenge.
He wasn’t making a blanket statement regarding Germany overall, readily acknowledging that in some parts there had been little resettlement of people from abroad and that the reactions of locals to newcomers could be mixed. But, he added, if they learned German and applied their abilities to learn new skills, they would be able to establish themselves there.
(During a visit to Atlanta Jan. 7, Christian Carius, president of the Thuringia State Parliament, was less sanguine about the migrants’ relocation when he told Global Atlanta that in the federal state he represents successful integration of immigrants would require at a minimum that they learn German. He also said that they would have to be sensitive to local customs and learn to adopt to new ways of living.
Formerly in Eastern Germany, Thuringia’s economy has progressed significantly since 1990 following Germany’s reunification, but providing jobs for the immigrants, according to Mr. Carius, would require training and further development of the economy.)
Both Ms. Vicini and Mr. Wulfing said they considered that paranoia regarding immigrants was less evident in Europe than in the U.S. and pointed to the need of Europe’s increasing its population to sustain its workforce as its aging populations retire. They also recognized that many of the migrants would prefer to return home should peace ever be achieved in their native lands.
Ms. Vicini also described the EU’s efforts to assist Turkey with its resettlement initiatives, citing the close relations being maintained by EU and Turkish officials and that the EU has offered more than $3 billion for it to stop the flow of migrants. In addition, she said that Europe has set up trust funds in other politically and economically stressed areas to develop conditions enabling their inhabitants to remain at home.
Following the ACIR luncheon, she spoke at the Georgia Institute of Technology on migrant issues and then more broadly on trade and other issues. Concerning trade, she said that she did not think that the migrant issues would affect the negotiations surrounding the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership negotiations.
By sheer coincide when Ms. Vicini was in Atlanta, the U.S. changed its visa-waiver program making it harder for some European travelers to enter the United States if they have dual citizenship from Iran, Iraq, Sudan or Syria, or have visited one of those countries in the past five years.
Thirty eight countries, mostly in Europe, have participated in the visa-waver program, which has allowed their citizens to visit the U.S. on trips of 90 days or less. But the terrorist attacks in Paris on Nov. 13 by European citizens prompted the policy change.
While the U.S. administration has downplayed that the additional steps required to enter the U.S., calling them a minor inconvenience, Ms. Vicini said that they primarily would affect Europeans who had fled the listed countries in the past to get away from abusive governments and were the least likely to harbor terrorist sentiments.
She also cited pending disagreements between the U.S. and Europe concerning data transfers. European data protection authorities are to gather in Brussels on Feb. 2 to find a common position on which legal channels companies can use to transmit personal data across the Atlantic.
The highest European court on Oct. 6 quashed the 15-year-old Safe Harbour framework used by more than 4,000 firms to transfer European’s data to the U.S. because of inadequate protections.
The conflict stems from revelations in 2013 by U.S. National Security Agency contractor Edward Snowden leaked details of U.S. government spying programs. The revelations included an allegation that the offices of the EU delegation in Washington were bugged.
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